Hill still lingering in Mr Monaco's shadow
Saturday May 23 1998
Graham Hill was known quite simply as `Mr Monaco.' His domination of the tight streets of the Principality in the swinging sixties was comparable only to the stranglehold that his great contemporary Jim Clark had over the British Grand Prix around the same time.
THREE-IN-A-ROW
The image of Hill is a photo from Monaco his jaw set and his carefully groomed pencil moustache just showing below his goggles as he guides his BRM round Station Hairpin. It is a classic for all Formula One afficionados.
Hill won three-in-a-row with BRM from 1963-1965 and followed that up with a brace of victories for Lotus in 1968 and 1969 by which time his career was in decline everywhere else but on the barrier lined streets of the Riviera resort where concentration counts above all else.
Graham Hill is no longer with us, of course, having died tragically in a plane crash in 1975 soon after escaping from a long driving career with his life when so many of his colleagues didn't.
His son, a world champion like his father, is still waiting for Prince Rainier to present the winner's trophy as Princess Grace did to Graham and it doesn't look as if this year will be his best chance. But he still has his father's number one fan to count on for support his mother.
Bette Hill doesn't go to that many races any more but she rarely misses Monaco. A stalwart supporter of Graham when he was driving, Bette would be seen on the pit counter with a stopwatch in hand and offering whatever support she could to keep the show on the road.
This year Bette is firmly ensconced in the B&H Jordan camp down in the harbour side paddock, watching and hoping for success and a safe return for her son on Sunday afternoon.
``This is my first race this year,'' she said yesterday. ``I take my pick these days but I like to come to Monte Carlo. It's very special for me and I just happened to get a friend to come along so it's fine.''
``I've only missed two races here since 1958. The victories for Graham are very special memories and the wonderful times we used to have here. There have been glamorous times and successful times and it's a one off, really, isn't it.''
There are fewer and fewer familiar faces at the race these days but Bette still enjoys the glamorous side of the event that is the main reason that Formula One comes to a facility that has been far outgrown by the size of the teams.
OLD FRIENDS
``I meet a few old friends here. Not too many. Inevitably you meet a few but they're not really racing people that you meet down here, not my old friends. I just came to have a little look at Damon to see what he's up to which isn't very much at the moment, sadly.
``I just like the atmosphere. We're staying outside of town and I'm going to watch from one of my friend's houses at the first bend.''
So does Bette get very nervous for Damon when she sees him racing? ``I just want him to do well, that's all. It's a nerve wracking time for anybody really but I just want him to be up there and win, which isn't easy,'' she adds.
It was Bette who encouraged Damon to switch from his first love motorcycle racing to the relatively safer world of cars. It was a prescient move. ``I suppose you could call it encouragement,'' she says with a laugh. ``I just didn't want him to go into Formula One bikes.
``I spoke to someone at Brands Hatch and I said `put him into cars and see how he gets on.' He soon wished he'd made the move five years previously.''
So has the Monaco scene changed greatly since Damon's dad was winning?: ``Well yes. We had a lot of fun, a lot of excitement and a lot of good racing. There were so many wonderful people and so much glamour,'' she says with a sparkle.
``I haven't seen Damon for two months. I know he lives in Ireland but it's very hard to keep in touch. In fact, I'm going over to Dublin next week when I go back, to see my grandchildren.
* IN a move that unites Formula One after more than a year of negotiation, all 11 teams signed a new Concorde agreement yesterday that will secure the future of the sport and pave the way for F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's public flotation of F1.
The agreement, which sets out the amount that each team receives in prize money and TV revenue, had been delayed while dissident teams including Winfield Williams and McLaren argued about what stake the teams should have in a public sale of the sport.
